Decoration of rods



Oct 19 ECORATIQN OF'RODS lled Dec. 27 1940 M ummm( mnumr WUHHTEULM'M'TORNEYs Patentecl Oct. 19, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DEOORATEN0F RODS Charles Kaiser, Jr., New York, N. Y., assigner to Eagle PencilCompany, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware 2 Claims.

The present invention is concerned with the art of decorating rods suchas lead pencils.

An object of the invention isV to provide a simple, reliable andinexpensive procedure and equipment for applying longitudinal stripes ofuniform small width, in uniformly spaced relation about a rod of anycross-section.

The invention .is applicable to applying such stripes to rods that areof circular or polygonal cross-section. It affords an especiallyattractive decoration for the conventional hexagonal rods or pencils,and more especially for the'application of such stripes along themiddles of the respective panels thereof, and this preferably inassociation with a base color for the rest of the panel other than thatof the areas immediately along the longitudinal edges of the rod orpencil, which desirably are of a third color.

For applying the uniformly spaced color stripes upon the circular rod orspaced from the various panel edges of the polygonal rod, the inventioninvolves the use of a rubber or squeegee die having an aperture ofregular polygonal cross-section and of original diameter so much smallerthan that of the rod or pencil that when the latter is passedtherethrough, clearance will exist only at narrow portions adjacent thevarious vertices when applied to a round rod, and in the case of thepolygonal rod, the die aperture would have sides in number twice thoseof the rod so that alternate vertices of the die aperture snugly embracethe edges of the rod and the intervening vertices are slightly clearedtherefrom. In the wiping action, accordingly, the wet color will bewiped oi except at the cleared regions and the width of the stripe isdetermined by the size of the die aperture and, therefore, the amount ofstretching to which the die is subjected while the rod or pencil passestherethrough.

In the accompanying drawing in which are shown one or more of variouspossible embodiments of the several features of the invention:

ig. l is a view in longitudinal cross-section showing the equipment usedin the iirst step in the decoration of a pencil or other rod,

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l, showing thedie there used,

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the equipment for the secondstep,

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are views in transverse crosssection taken respectivelyalong the lines @-5, 5-5 and 6 6, showing the elements making up thesqueegee die used at that stage,

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a fragment of showing the application ofthe invention to a rod or pencil, circular in cross-section.

In a specific embodiment for producing the pencil shown in Fig. 1l, theprocedure involves the drawing of the pencil or rod through successivecolor carrying vessels, diagrammatically indicated in Figs. 1, 3 and 8respectively, each of which has at the outlet side thereof, a squeegeewasher or die desirably made of rubber and controlling the removal ofwet coloring matter from the completely covered rod, all in accordancewith the design desired. The entire pencil is first covered with thecolor a appearing at the edges, which color in the form of a lacquer isin the vessel of Fig. l. The washer thereof simply wipes off excesscolor and leaves the pencil solidly covered with that color. Afterdrying of the pencil or rod, it is passed through the second colorvessel of Fig. 3, which has in it color forming the body` b of thepanels. The rubber squeegee die at the outlet is so conformed as to wipeoi clean the color at the corners or edges of the rod,so that the pencilor rod delivered as a result of the second operation, will have theappearance illustrated in Fig. 7. After the rod thus treated has dried,it is passed through the third color vessel shown in Fig. 8 in which isthe lacquer for producing the median longitudinal stripes. The rubber orsqueegee die for that purpose is so conformed as to wipe ofi clean allof the color applied in the vessel of Fig. 8 save only that left for themedian stripes c.

Proceeding now to the details of the structures or steps involved, eachof the color Vessels of Figs. l, 3 and 8 may have caps i5 and l5thereon, cap I5 having a resilient washer Il shown at the right, withanaperture snugly to t about the pencil or rod r which pencils or rodsare fed through in a continuous line to be completely coated with colorfrom the vessel, the excess color being wiped off at the resilientoutlet through which the rod passes from the vessel V. Referring to Fig.1 the outlet Washer I8 is of reiatively thin rubber stock, clampedperipherally by the cap i 6 against the end of the vessel V and has anaperture I9 corresponding to that of the cross-section of the rod,illustratively hexagonal, but with suilcient clearance to leave upon therod a coating of lacquer in the order of .001inch thick.

After the rod has dried, it is passed through the color vessel of Fig.3, in which the die 2i) at the outlet side has a circular aperture 2l ofdiameter such as snugly to embrace the edges 22 of the polygonal rod andthereby to wipe off the wet color from the vessel that completely coversthe rod, and thus to expose at said edges they color stripe a that hadbeen applied from the first vessel.

Depending on the diameter of -die aperture 21| the same will be spreadto greater or lesser extent in passing the rod therethrough, which ci?course determines the Width of the corner stripes a.

Were thedfe 2i) used alone, therewould-of course be an excessivethicknessofc,clorl at the segmental spaces 23,betweenthe pQlygonal rodand the crculardiehc-le 2G. Thatcolol might spread non-uniformly andspoil the. design. Therefore, a thin. hexagonal rubber Washer. 24similar to the washer-J3 used in the rst step is disposed adjacent diel.Washer 24y Wipes off the excess color leftonkiy die 20. Immediatelyadjacent die 2d is adie 25 which is substantially a duplicateof the die2and through which the redis also passed, eiectively to wipe from theedge stripes a,.thereof any` color that might have spread laterallythereto from. the

panel area d. The decoration resulting .from 4the operation thus fardescribed has theappearance indicated in Fig. 7.

The intermediate.longitudinal stripes c along the respective panels ofthe rod are. now applied. For this purpose the third color vesselof Fig.8 is equippedwith asqueegee rubber die 2l that has an apertureof regularpolygonal cross-section, of twice the number of sides of that of the rod`and the diameter of said aperture is smaller than that of the rod. Asbest shown in Fig. 9, s

when the rod is passed through said die, its edges automatically comeinto engagement with the alternate vertices 28 of the die aperture andspread the rubber at such regions, thereby causing the sides 29sof; thedie aperture to engage the rod at the region of'. said vertices, thediebeing spaced from the rod only at the inter vening regions of theintermediate vertices 3Q.

Thus, as best shownrin Fig. 9, the. sides of the rubber squcegee dieengage thercd with maxif mum pressure at the ,edges of the latter andwith progressively reduced pressure laterally of said edges, to completeclearance at the region of the stripes, the clearance being a maximum atthe intermediate vertices Se which determine the center lines of thestripes, From another point of View, the pressure as exerted by the dieincreases progressively from the median stripe outwardly to a maximum atthe edges o f the rod. When the rod is passedlthlough the third colorvessel i. e. that shownin Fig. 8, the die 2 Wipes off all of the thirdapplication of color, except at the region of clearance 3,9 of4 theintermediate vertices, thereby leaving the intermediate stripe c as setforth. Depending upon the diameter of the polygonal die aperture andaCCOldDgly upon the degree of stretching to which it is subjected inpassing the rod therethrough, the stripe c may be made wider or narroweras desired.

For clean and uniform application of the intermediate stripe, the die 2lis preferably contacted by a thick rubber plate 3i with a circularaperture 32 which snugly engages the edges only of the rod and wipes oiany color from the vessel of Fig. 8, that may have passed one of the dievertices 28.

In actual'practice, it will be understood that each color vessel has anassociated hopper (not shown) from which the pencils or rods are fed andpropelled forward in a continuous line into and out of the respectivecolor vessels so that the rubberrwashers at both ends of the colorvessel remain snugly gripped about the successive rods as indicatedvat rand r in Fig. 1. In practice, color4 Wouldbe laid down in a plurality oflayers when required, each layer being dried before the nextisapplied.The lacquer used is preferably ofthefast drying type, so that eachcoloring step may be applied without much delay after the drying ofthepreceding color application.

Desirably` a coatofplear lacquer is appliedv to coat theentire rodbefore it is striped by the equipment of Fig. 8. The clear lacquer nlm.acts as a-.protective coat to prevent smearingby the wetting of theseconder body color by the third or striping color. The protective coatof clear lacquerisapplied from a vessel similar to, those shown,equipped with a single exible washer such as shown in Figs. 1. and 2.The center stripe applied ,atthe vessel shown in Fig. 8 .is desirablyfollowed by another protective coat of clear lacquer applied inA mannersimilar. to the aforementioned clear lacquer coating.

It-Will be understood that according to the invention, the intermediatestripes c. could be applied directly upon a rod provided with avbasecolor, the edge stripes applied in the vessel of Fig. 3 being in that case omitted. It will also beunderstood thattheinvention lends itself'for application to pencils or other rod like. articles not only oftheconventional hexagonal cross-section, but of square, octagonal or othercrossrsections, regular-lorirregular.

A round rod maybe provided with azseries cf narrow uniformly spacedlongitudinal stripes by passing the same through a die with a regularpolygonal aperture similar to that shown in Fig. 9 and .of any desirednumber of sides, the inscribed diameter of which is smaller than that ofthe circular rod. AccordinglyJ as shown inFig. 12 theY die 35 becomesbowed by the rod, snugly to engage the rod at various sides 36 of itspolygonal aperture and leaving clearance merely at the regions of thevertices 31 thereof and thereby applying stripes, the same in number asthe number oi' sides of the die. v

As many changes could be made in the above method and apparatus and manyapparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be madewithout department from the scope of the claims, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above .description or shown in the accompanyingdrawing shall be interpreted. as illustrative and: not in a limitingsense.

Having thusdescribed my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for decorating with longitudinal color stripes, the middleportions solelyl ofthe flat panels 0f poli/@wmode Said-apparatus.Cambria ing a colorvessel through which the rods are passed, the outlet.wall of the color vesselhaving a squeegee type rubberv die.presentinganl aperture in the form ofa regular polygon of. twice thenumber of sides of the rod to be colored, the circumscribed circle ofwhich is of diameter smaller than that of the rod, whereby the die willbe stretched by the rod passing therethrough, snugly to engage the rodat the alternate vertices of the die and along the sides of the rodpanels, save only the region immediately adjacent the intermediatevertices at which the coloring in the form of longitudinal stripes willbe left on the rod.

2. Apparatus for decorating a polygonal rod, comprising a plurality ofcolor vessels, each having a distinct lacquer color therein, each vesselhaving a squeegee type die at the outer Wall thereof for wiping offexcess color and leaving on the color at the areas desired, the die ofthe nal vessel having an aperture in the form of a regular polygon oftwice the number of sides of said rod the circumscribed circle of whichis of diameter smaller than that of the rod, thereby to be distended bysaid rod to leave clearance only at alternate vertices thereof, whichare disposed at 10 the middles of the panels of the rod.

CHARLES KAISER, JR.

